This report is about women in Morocco who continue to face obstacles in social, economic, and political participation. These obstacles are a result of discriminatory legislative frameworks, social norms that restrict legal rights, and limited economic participation.
... See More + Women’s economic participation in Morocco was at 26 percent which is among the lowest in the world, and has not changed since 1990. The ultimate objective is to promote women’s empowerment as a means to achieve a more inclusive, open, and prosperous society. This report is arranged as follows :(a) chapter one will present the progress thus far and the remaining important challenges for women in Morocco.; (b) chapters two and three focus on economic empowerment and employment outcomes and on the remaining legislative and or social discrimination that continue to restrict women agency in chapter four; and (c) chapter five will conclude by presenting some key areas of strategic intervention for the government and other development actors which are not only of greater potential impact but also a prerequisite for women’s agency and empowerment. The main findings in the report are as follows: (i) unequal access to education and resources continue to hinder women’s human development progress; (ii) gender segregation in terms of employment is pervasive, with women mostly working in low productivity sectors; (iii) demographic factors and social norms also affect women’s decisions to join the labor force; (iv) only fifteen percent of women in urban areas are employed, against sixty two percent of men, and this gap has remained virtually unchanged in the past; (vi) there is a substantial wage gap between men and women, even when controlling for education and professions; and (vii) traditional explanations for Female Labor Force Participation (FLFP) long-term trends account only partially for Morocco’s observed outcomes. Agency has a role, often a strong one, in contributing to women’s human development and economic opportunities, and opening opportunities for greater participation in social and political life. Despite important reforms, gaps remain in the legal framework, negatively impacting economic, social, and political development for women. The main conclusions and recommendations are follows: (a) much has been done but much remains to be done to improve women’s access to economic opportunities and individual empowerment; (b) women can actively contribute to Morocco’s economic growth only if the remaining barriers that still prevent women from working in high productivity sectors are removed; (c) removing regulatory barriers and easing the access to credit for female entrepreneurs is key to creating more jobs; (d) further reforms of the Labor code could be designed taking into account specific obstacles to women’s economic participation; (e) government action to level the playing field across the lifecycle would strengthen women’s opportunities and ultimately socio-economic outcomes; (f) the Goverment of Morocco (GoM) has taken considerable steps in closing gender equality gaps in law, but action is needed to ensure consistency throughout legislative frameworks; and (g) mainstreaming gender into policy action is key to achieving gender equality and women empowerment.
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This report is about women in Morocco who continue to face obstacles in social, economic, and political participation. These obstacles are a result of discriminatory legislative frameworks, social norms that restrict legal rights, and limited economic participation.
... See More + Women’s economic participation in Morocco was at 26 percent which is among the lowest in the world, and has not changed since 1990. The ultimate objective is to promote women’s empowerment as a means to achieve a more inclusive, open, and prosperous society. This report is arranged as follows :(a) chapter one will present the progress thus far and the remaining important challenges for women in Morocco.; (b) chapters two and three focus on economic empowerment and employment outcomes and on the remaining legislative and or social discrimination that continue to restrict women agency in chapter four; and (c) chapter five will conclude by presenting some key areas of strategic intervention for the government and other development actors which are not only of greater potential impact but also a prerequisite for women’s agency and empowerment. The main findings in the report are as follows: (i) unequal access to education and resources continue to hinder women’s human development progress; (ii) gender segregation in terms of employment is pervasive, with women mostly working in low productivity sectors; (iii) demographic factors and social norms also affect women’s decisions to join the labor force; (iv) only fifteen percent of women in urban areas are employed, against sixty two percent of men, and this gap has remained virtually unchanged in the past; (vi) there is a substantial wage gap between men and women, even when controlling for education and professions; and (vii) traditional explanations for Female Labor Force Participation (FLFP) long-term trends account only partially for Morocco’s observed outcomes. Agency has a role, often a strong one, in contributing to women’s human development and economic opportunities, and opening opportunities for greater participation in social and political life. Despite important reforms, gaps remain in the legal framework, negatively impacting economic, social, and political development for women. The main conclusions and recommendations are follows: (a) much has been done but much remains to be done to improve women’s access to economic opportunities and individual empowerment; (b) women can actively contribute to Morocco’s economic growth only if the remaining barriers that still prevent women from working in high productivity sectors are removed; (c) removing regulatory barriers and easing the access to credit for female entrepreneurs is key to creating more jobs; (d) further reforms of the Labor code could be designed taking into account specific obstacles to women’s economic participation; (e) government action to level the playing field across the lifecycle would strengthen women’s opportunities and ultimately socio-economic outcomes; (f) the Goverment of Morocco (GoM) has taken considerable steps in closing gender equality gaps in law, but action is needed to ensure consistency throughout legislative frameworks; and (g) mainstreaming gender into policy action is key to achieving gender equality and women empowerment.
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This paper investigates the extent to which the persistence of gender inequality might have constrained growth and productivity in Morocco. It does so through an overview of the recent (2000-2011) growth performance and the analysis of the structure of female employment over the last decade.
... See More + The paper does not attempt to show the link between female employment, gender inequality and growth as this has been already treated extensively in the empirical literature. This analysis builds instead on the assumption, put forth in the theoretical and empirical literature, that gender disparities and related occupational and market segmentations hamper productivity and growth. By analyzing the structure of female employment over time and sectoral labor productivity data we examine whether employment opportunities for women are concentrated in sectors where labor productivity (and hence the wage rate) is low or not growing and the reasons that might be behind these outcomes. This is an important question from not only the welfare perspective, but also from the point of view of economic efficiency. Evidence that women are working in low return sectors signals the existence of mobility barriers which prevent them from moving to higher return sectors.
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Jobs are crucial for individual well-being. They provide a livelihood and, equally important, a sense of dignity. They are also crucial for collective well-being and economic growth.
... See More + However, the rules and incentives that govern labor markets in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries have led to in efficient and inequitable outcomes, both individually and collectively. Several underlying distortions prevent a more productive use of human capital and have led to a widespread sense of unfairness and exclusion, of which the Arab Spring was a powerful expression. The Middle East and North Africa has a large reservoir of untapped human resources, with the world's highest unemployment rate among youth and the lowest participation of females in the labor force. Desirable jobs, defined as high paying or formal jobs, are few, and private employment is overwhelmingly of low added value. Overall, the region's labor markets can be characterized as being in efficient, inequitable, and locked in low productivity equilibrium.
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The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is one of the richest in the world in terms of natural resources. It holds more than 60 percent of the world's proven oil reserves, mostly located in the Gulf region, and nearly half of global gas reserves.
... See More + Not surprisingly, oil represents close to 85 percent of the merchandise exports of the region, making it highly susceptible to fluctuations in international prices. A long strand of economic literature suggests that such dependence may hurt a country's growth prospects and job creation by reducing the scope for economic diversification. A forthcoming WB publication investigates how MENA can overcome this challenge and encourage greater economic diversification. The study examines the pattern of structural transformation in MENA and explores the role of natural resources and macroeconomic policies in driving the current (limited) diversification outcomes. The authors explore analytical questions, such as: (i) the impact of the real exchange rate on manufacturing and tradable services competitiveness in MENA; (ii) the role of fiscal policy in supporting diversification; (iii) how 'weak links' (input sectors with low productivity) play a critical role in explaining the concentration of economic activities, in addition to the classical Dutch disease effect; and (iv) the impact of macroeconomic factors on the drive for regional integration. The main findings are summarized in this quick note. The study highlights that the negative effect of rents is compounded by the negative impact of policy and regulatory restrictions on entry, and of business conduct on the development of services sectors.
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This book is organized as follows: this first chapter examines the pattern of structural transformation in Middle East and North Africa, or MENA and summarizes the role of various factors examined thoroughly in the rest of the volume.
... See More + This second chapter examines the correlates of this overall disappointing performance. At the macro level, MENA countries have been unable to maintain depreciated (undervalued) real exchange rates for long periods, yet such undervaluation has proved important to offset the market failures and poor institutional environment that severely hit the dynamic non-resource-intensive traded sectors. This third chapter shows that services sectors in resource-rich MENA countries have been declining as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) and of non-mining GDP as per capita incomes increase. This fourth chapter explores the presence of systematic differences between the patterns of diversification in MENA and the rest of the world. This fifth chapter shows that from a historical perspective, fiscal policy has not contributed significantly to diversification in MENA, because it has been more oriented toward food and fuel subsidies (consumption) rather than toward public goods such as infrastructure (investment). Finally, in this sixth chapter, the authors emphasize the different characteristics of the regional partners in terms of their resource endowments and consider wealth distribution effects within the region.
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This paper presents a detailed picture of how sustained growth in Egypt over 2005-2008 affected different groups both above and below the poverty line.
... See More + This analysis, based on the Household Income, Expenditure and Consumption Panel Survey conducted by Egypts national statistical agency, compares the changes in the static poverty profiles (based on growth incidence curves on a cross-section of data) with poverty dynamics (relying on panel data, growth incidence curves and transition matrices). The two approaches yield contrasting results: the longitudinal analysis reveals that growth benefited the poor while the cross-sectional analysis shows that the rich benefitted even more. The paper also shows the importance of going beyond averages to look at the trajectories of individual households. Panel data analysis shows that the welfare of the average poor household increased by almost 10 percent per year between 2005 and 2008, enough to move out of poverty. Conversely however, many initially non-poor households were exposed to poverty. As a matter of fact, only 45 percent of the population in Egypt remained consistently out of (near-) poverty throughout the period, while the remaining 55 percent of Egyptians experienced at least one (near-) poverty episode. This high mobility is not a statistical artefact: it reflects the actual process of growth. Taking high vulnerability into account is essential when designing policies to protect the poor and to ensure that growth is really inclusive.
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A firm's absorptive capacity, human capital and linkages with knowledge institutions have been shown to increase the firm's probability of innovating in OECD economies.
... See More + Despite its importance for national- and firm-level competitiveness, few papers examine the impact of the same variables for firms innovation in Latin America. This paper investigates the link between firm innovation and its absorption capacity as proxied by the presence of a R&D department, the firm's human capital, and its interaction with research centers and universities. We analyze the case of Chilean and Colombian manufacturing firms using data from innovation surveys. A probit regression model is applied to identify the determinants of innovation activity. We find that collaboration with university and research institutions is associated with an increase in the probability of introducing a new product in Chilean and Colombian firms of 29 and 44 percent, respectively, and it can increase up to 58 percent in the case of Colombian firms interacting with research centers. Moreover, firms whose employees have a higher level of education, or whose managers/supervisors have a higher (perceived) level of knowledge, are more likely to innovate. Although the estimates could be affected by biases and suffer from shortcomings in data, the findings suggest that policies and incentives to increase firm-level human capital and industry-university linkages are important to increase innovation in Latin America.
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